Internet celebrates 30th birthday since launch

The internet is marking a milestone moment with now essential network celebrating its 30th birthday yesterday, January 1.

Sparking a new era in computing, the internet replaced previous networking systems within the US Department of Defence on January 1 1983, before going on to revolutionise the way the world communicates, shops, listens to music and carries out many other tasks.

Using data “packet-switching,” the internet, which launched as the Arpanet network and was based on the 1960s designs of Welsh scientist Donald Davies, introduced a new method of linking computers and later enabled the creation and introduction of the World Wide Web.

Designed to replace the more fragile Network Control Program, the internet was created at prestigious American universities and research laboratories with work on the project beginning back in 1973, a decade before the network was launched.

"The internet means there is nowhere and no one in the world you can't reach easily and cheaply,” Chris Edwards, an electronics correspondent for Engineering and Technology magazine told the Telegraph. 'I don't think that anybody making that switch on the day would have realised the importance of what they were doing.

More resilient to attack, the DoD introduced the internet as it could not be completely brought down by a single attack, making the system more secure than previous efforts and ensuring security measures could not be exposed by a single point of failure.

Helping bring the internet to the masses, Sir Tim Berners-Lee used the still revolutionary networking system to host a system of interlinked hypertext documents, an invention that was christened the World Wide Web and paved the way for modern websites and browser options.

What role does the internet play in your everyday life? Work tool, entertainment provider, essential life line? Let us know via the Trusted Reviews Twitter and Facebook feeds or through the comment boxes below.